"A Wave. An Awesome Wave."

This week the show was a little different as the Mercury Prize Winner was to be announced 4hrs after my show was on air.  Therefore it made perfect sense for the show to contain a run down of all 12 nominees and what they were all about as well as the usual kind of music that I like to play.

The Mercury Prize is talked about a lot every year as it celebrates new, emerging or alternative UK albums and artists that perhaps wouldn't get a look in within other award ceremonies. It is also known for the judges giving their one and only award to perhaps the underdog or the unexpected contender rather than the more obvious choice (Speech Debelle in 2009??). This is perhaps why people have said that this is a pretentious event because it purposely doesn't appeal to the mass, mainstream-loving audience, but both Ben Howard and Plan B were nominated this year....
Personally, I think it's a great event and, this year especially, I was keen to read a lot of the articles and news stories about all the nominees and their albums.

AND THE 2012 WINNER IS>>>

Congrats to Alt-J!
Winning the award this year for their album 'An Awesome Wave'

Regardless of them winning this award, this is one of my favourite albums of the year. My friends on Facebook and Spotify could tell you that I probably listen to this album at least 3 times a week. It's a perfect album to listen to all the way through with all the tracks linking so well together but still having individual uniqueness about them. Very happy that I already have tickets to see them live in May.

Have a listen to this week's show and maybe have your say; let me know who your winner would be...

LOVE x

MusicBubble: Review of the Mercury Prize Nominees by Mhairi Macleod on Mixcloud

(Apologises for the occasional dodgey mic levels)

Tracklisting

Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms
Masters in France - Playin' With My Friends
Haim - Forever
Cave Painting - So Calm
Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Grimes - Genesis

Chill-Out Track:
The Civil Wars - I Want You Back

The Mercury Prize Nominees
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Django Django - Selftitled
Field Music - Plumb
Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge
Ben Howard - Every Kingdom
Micheal Kiwanuka - Home Again
Lianne La Havas - Is Your Love Big Enough?
Sam Lee - Ground of Its Own
The Maccabees - Given to the Wild
Plan B - Ill Manors
Roller Trio - Selftitled
Jessie Ware - Devotion